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SOURCE SPORTS: Wale Partners With Spotify For “Walemania VI” In Dallas

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One of the most idiosyncratic emcees in the game Wale is taking his annual pro-wrestling-themed music extravaganza to The Lone Star State. Walemania will host The Ringer’s The Masked Man Show Live Podcast with a plethora of guests at House of Blues in Dallas, TX, on Thursday, March 31.

Walemania, now a staple in the hip-hop and wrestling culture, featuring musical performances and special guest appearances by famous wrestlers, has now leveled up the experience partnering with Spotify. Foot Locker is dropping exclusive merch for the event which can be bought here or at the venue. The merch combines Wale’s affinities for wrestling and sneaker culture as all six collections are now available. 

The Masked Man Show, hosted by David Shoemaker and Kazeem Famuyide, recaps the world of professional wrestling on a weekly basis brought to you by Spotify and The Ringer. Some of the past guests have included the likes of Paul Heyman, Drew Mcintyre, Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, Smoke DZA, Bryan Danielson, and more. Dave and Kaz are bringing their podcast to the masses to open up the sixth annual WaleMania event in Dallas, TX. The flagship show of The Ringer’s Wrestling Show Podcast feed will involve some karaoke and surprise guests from the world of professional wrestling.

“WaleMania has always been a passion of mine because it combines all of my loves into one place during a weekend that I always have the most fun. I love doing this for fans of myself and my music as well as the fans of professional wrestling because at the end of the day, I’m one of you too,” says Wale. “I love that WaleMania has become the unofficial welcome to the big weekend party so I’ve got a few things up my sleeve to make sure this one is unforgettable. “ – Wale

It’ll be an energetic way for the millions, and millions, of wrestling fans present to kick off the fanfest before multiple-time Grammy-nominated and platinum-selling artist Wale, hits the stage with friends for a truly memorable performance. 

Confirmed Talent: AEW’s Swerve Strickland, AEW’s Ricky Starks, IMPACT Wrestling’s Machine Gun Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows, Impact Knockouts Champion Tasha Steelz, Chris Bey, AJ Gray, Big Swole, Joey Janela, Shane Taylor Promotions, Rocky Romero, and much more. Music by DJ Poizon Ivy, DJ Money, DJ Q, and DJ Shellshock. 

The tickets are on sale now and the doors open at 7pm.

The post SOURCE SPORTS: Wale Partners With Spotify For “Walemania VI” In Dallas appeared first on The Source.

Lil Nas X Celebrates Beating ‘The Horse Boy Allegations’ As ‘Call Me By Your Name’ Passes ‘Old Town Road’ On Spotify

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Lil Nas X proved he wasn’t just a one-hit-wonder long ago — multiple times, no less — but he still seemed pretty amped to learn that one of his Montero singles finally surpassed his breakout hit on DSPs. Now that he’s returned to Twitter, he had the perfect joke for the occasion, too. “Just found out call me by your name passed old town road in streams,” he announced. “We beat the horse boy allegations.”

He’s joking — sort of, and also always — but there was a time the TikTok-trend sparking “Old Town Road” was Nas’ signature hit. He performed in full cowboy regalia for nearly a solid year and even admits that by the end of the song’s monstrous, historical run, he was growing a little tired of it. And while he was able to produce bangers like “Panini,” “Rodeo,” and “Holiday” in the aftermath of “OTR’s” dominance, it almost looked like he would be known solely by his first hit.

Then “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” dropped as the first single to his debut album Montero, and rather than being the horse boy, he’d become the devil man, with the video for his second No. 1 hit setting off seismic waves of speculation and disconcerted, sputtering backlash from conservative commentators. That would have been enough to wipe away the “one-hit-wonder” tag, but then he dropped “Industry Baby” to garner his third No. 1, just for good measure.

Songwriters Hold A Peaceful Protest Against Spotify Royalty Rates In Los Angeles

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Yesterday, Spotify’s old West Hollywood office was crowded with songwriters advocating for better pay, according to a Billboard reporter. Tiffany Red was the event organizer, a professional songwriter with clients like Jennifer Hudson and Jason Derulo. She founded The 100 Percenters, who stated on their website that the mission was to host “a peaceful protest in Los Angeles in support of better royalty rates for music creators from Spotify and other streaming platforms.” With picket signs, they demanded one cent per stream.

Protesters brought up the fact that Spotify gave notorious podcaster Joe Rogan a $200 million deal despite his repeated behavior of spewing misinformation and saying the N-word: “They tell us they can’t pay us more and then they go and give a podcaster that much money?” artist and songwriter Bianca “Blush” Atterberry said. They pointed out that Spotify is worth $67 billion. The protest, though, is a part of the group’s larger goal to get all streaming services to pay better including Apple Music, Amazon, and Pandora.

Meanwhile, UK indie group The Pocket Gods recently protested Spotify’s royalty rates for artists with 1000X30 – Nobody Makes Money Anymore, an album that consisted of 1,000 songs that all run for about 30 seconds. Bandleader Mark Christopher Lee noted his band earns about £0.002 (about a quarter of a US cent) from each Spotify stream of their songs.

Spotify Is Changing A Big Rule Thanks To A Protest Album Of 1,000 30-Second Songs

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UK indie group The Pocket Gods decided to protest Spotify’s royalty rates for artists with 1000X30 – Nobody Makes Money Anymore, an album that, as the title indicates, consists of 1,000 songs that all run for about 30 seconds. Spotify actually caught wind of the project and have since changed some part of how they do things.

Pocket Gods leader Mark Christopher Lee was inspired to take on the project by a 2015 article from The Independent, which ponders the future of music given that royalties are paid on a Spotify stream after a track has been played for at least 30 seconds.

“I saw the article and it made me think, ‘Why write longer songs when we get paid little enough for just 30 seconds,” Lee told i News. He continued, “We wrote and recorded 1,000 songs, each a shade over 30 seconds long for the album. The longest is 36 seconds. It is designed to raise awareness about the campaign for fair royalty rates.”

He also noted his band earns about £0.002 (about a quarter of a US cent) from each Spotify stream of their songs.

The project was first presented earlier this month and Spotify has been paying attention, as Lee now says he was invited to meet with Spotify’s head of artist relations. He said that since the release of the album, the streaming platform has changed one of its rules: “Spotify said we’re ahead of the curve as shorter songs are the future — just look at TikTok. They said that I can pitch 30-second tracks to their playlists for consideration — I wasn’t able to do this previously as the songs were considered too short. So next week I’m releasing a 30-second single called ‘Noel Gallagher Is Jealous Of My Studio.’”

Lee says he was also told songwriters would see increased pay rates when Spotify rolls out an increase in its subscription price.

Hot Press notes The Pocket Gods are used to dropping atypical sorts of albums like this: They’ve released 74 albums since 1998, multiple of which have over 100 tracks.